Disrespect: Equal or Not???

[Aotearoa (Bushwacker)]

Okay first off I am neither British nor American so don't overly care to much for either side but...
This is just my observation and I am interested in comments. So Finlay is fired, because he cued the interruption of the American national Anthem or whatever, so yip bad booking, disrespectful to Americans and all that. So that's fine I see why are Americans are offended and it was booked by a non-american to make things worse.
But the RAW is in England and they announce the Queen is going to be there and then bring out a person who is clearly mocking the Queen. To me this is equally disrespectful and at least on the same level as what Finlay did.
They were both garnered to generate massive heat for the Heel involved and both achieved there purpose. So I don't see the difference, other than one was at a house show and we would never have even heard about other than for the internet and the other was on international television mocking Americas biggest ally. So I dont get it.
Like I say though I am neither British or American, I am a New Zealander (but we are part of the commonwealth so I guess my loyalties lie somewhat with the Queen)
My questions are...
Why is this okay?
Is it equally disrespectful?
Should the person who booked the Queen segment be given the same treatment as Finlay?
Is mocking the Queen of England a bigger travesty than merely interrupting a song?

 

[AnvilForever]

A bit of clarification: when Finlay had the anthem interrupted, it pissed off representatives of the US National Guard, who are WWE sponsors. Vince has always been a pro-military guy, and they had to get rid of Finlay to appease them. It was all business, and aside from the Guard, I think everyone else didn't mind.

That said, Vince isn't unwilling to go for the low blow to get heel heat. Remember when he mocked God in 2006? Also, in the build up to Wrestlemania VII, Vince wanted Sgt. Slaughter to burn the American flag, but he refused. There was also one time when JBL goose-stepped like a Nazi at a house show in Germany, and making a reference to the Nazis is a big no-no in Germany unless it is in a serious context. If Finlay's idea hadn't angered sponsors, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but it did, so he was the scapegoat.

 

[Aotearoa (Bushwacker)]

Agreed, and I guess mocking God actually trumps everything.
Surely though from a business standpoint with Britain being such a big market and with so many wrestlers now from the UK, that this could have equally angered potential sponsors there.

To quote Jim Gaffigan "The British are our only allies, why would he be so reckless"

 

[Loveless]

Surely though from a business standpoint with Britain being such a big market and with so many wrestlers now from the UK, that this could have equally angered potential sponsors there.

Nah, we have a sense of humour. Nothing is sacred over here.

 

[Stuntz]

Im pretty certain that is not the first time the "E" has used that woman as the queen either. So from that standpoint I dont think there was really any problem with it to begin with. The only thing that can really be taken out of context and maybe disrespectful out of that whole segment was when Cole kissed her. But thats just because I hate Cole and he slobbered all over the "Queen".

 

[TUFFY54]

Okay first off I am neither British nor American so don't overly care to much for either side but...
This is just my observation and I am interested in comments. So Finlay is fired, because he cued the interruption of the American national Anthem or whatever, so yip bad booking, disrespectful to Americans and all that. So that's fine I see why are Americans are offended and it was booked by a non-american to make things worse.
But the RAW is in England and they announce the Queen is going to be there and then bring out a person who is clearly mocking the Queen. To me this is equally disrespectful and at least on the same level as what Finlay did.
They were both garnered to generate massive heat for the Heel involved and both achieved there purpose. So I don't see the difference, other than one was at a house show and we would never have even heard about other than for the internet and the other was on international television mocking Americas biggest ally. So I dont get it.
Like I say though I am neither British or American, I am a New Zealander (but we are part of the commonwealth so I guess my loyalties lie somewhat with the Queen)
My questions are...
Why is this okay?
Is it equally disrespectful?
Should the person who booked the Queen segment be given the same treatment as Finlay?
Is mocking the Queen of England a bigger travesty than merely interrupting a song?

You bring up a fair point. However, I don't think it really had anything to do with disrespect. As someone else posted, the National Guard reps were at the tapping. It would be like Snickers Bars being a sponser and having a wrestler come out and say they make him want to puke.

I also don't think Finley being Irish had anything to do with his firing. It was just a stupid move. As an American, I would not be outraged if I saw Miz interupt the National Anthem, but I wouldn't think it was neccessary for him to do to get over as a heel.

The National Anthem isn't part of the show. It is something that is sung before the show starts out of respect. Again, I don't think it's the end of the world that Miz did it, I just think it was a dumb thing to do.

 

[iFrawg]

I don't think that the said incident disrespected England (Britain) in any way. I'm English myself, and I think that the majority of the United Kingdom couldn't care less for the Queen so mocking her wouldn't bother us.

 

[muzz-rocks]

Well hang on a minute, I've just read a lot worse from TNA Beer Money interrupted "God Save The Queen" at a house show on Friday, the day of the royal wedding. Did Finley get a job with TNA?

Also Jeff Jerret's recent comments about us "free loading Brits" could have seemed offensive, but I like to think of it as "Friendly Fire".

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

When they did that interruption thing, it was in front of the National Guard.


The Queen is a public figure and has been mocked plenty of times before. And I'm sure plenty of Brits don't care for the monarchy.

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

It's fine really, we have a huge contingent of angry republicans in Britain. Besides, Liz is cool. She wouldn't give a shit. What is Michael Cole to her?

Nothing, that's what.

Personally I found the whole thing was a good idea because it made Cole's heat-garnering relative to the audience despite being just a ridiculous seg in general. They knew we'd know it wasn't the Queen - for starters that woman's RP was shite, not to mention she was far too tall, and Cole would have to go to the palace, on the Queen's terms at the Queen's time. It would have been more believable if they'd got Hugh Dennis to do it.

Sir Michael Cole. Whatever next.

Oh and by the way Jeff Jarrett, fuck off, Prince William does actually have a job, you moron.

 

[arkady]

What annoyed me most about the knighthood angle is that Cole's character is that of a total jackass who talks himself up to the annoyance of everyone around him.

1) So why the hell are they legitimising his reasons to be a jackass? Are the WWE going to make this tie into his long term story? I hope so. It's kind of a cardinal rule of storytelling - the higher the hubris the further the fall. The more accolades Cole builds up, the harder he has to hit the ground at the end of his character's run and he's building himself up so high I'm not sure they have a way of taking him down hard enough.

2) Only British & Commonwealth citizens (i.e. those that have the queen as their Head of State) can be knighted in this country. There is a lower "honorary knighthood" but they aren't allowed to use the title "Sir". So Cole never should have been able to get the knighthood anyway.

 

[Dagger Dias]

So Finlay is fired, because he cued the interruption of the American national Anthem or whatever, so yip bad booking, disrespectful to Americans and all that. So that's fine I see why are Americans are offended and it was booked by a non-american to make things worse.

That was disrespectful and a way to get cheap heat. I remember reading an article stating that he did not have permission to run that promo. He just came up with it last minute and then told Miz to go do it. It was a combination of disrespect for both the country and the chain of command in the organization.

But the RAW is in England and they announce the Queen is going to be there and then bring out a person who is clearly mocking the Queen. To me this is equally disrespectful and at least on the same level as what Finlay did.

This was a little different. They have had fake impersonators of real celebrities before. Remember back in 2008 when they had the fake Hillary and the fake Obama? Those obviously weren't them. It's not equal to the Finlay incident, but I see it as being equal to the fake potential presidents. It insults the fans' intelligence to make them think those are the real officials. Either way, it's different from the Finlay incident.

They were both garnered to generate massive heat for the Heel involved and both achieved there purpose. So I don't see the difference, other than one was at a house show and we would never have even heard about other than for the internet and the other was on international television mocking Americas biggest ally. So I dont get it.

It's exactly as you said. One was only heard about online because it was THAT big of a deal. Finlay did not respect the chain of command by pitching that idea ahead of time for a potential moment on Raw or at another show. It would have gotten heat for Miz regardless of if there was permission to run the promo or not. The angle with the fake Queen had been planned out already. That's where it's different in terms of being equally disrespectful or not. Plus that angle insults the fans' intelligence while the Finlay incident does not. We knew it was just Miz's character trying to make us angry. No lies or fake officials involved.


The person who came up with the fake Queen angle should not be punished because not only did it obviously air with permission from the higher ranking officials, it got Cole legit heel heat. However the Finlay incident got Miz cheep heat when he could have gotten more heel heat from his typical promos rather than going such a cheap route by insulting the country. Impersonating an important official is more disrespectful to the fans than interrupting a song, but Finlay's firing was about something completely different than an issue of it being rude to the fans or not.